Bull elk @1302 yards....

JD338,
I'll answer this for Goodgrouper since I got to help cape it and cut up the meat. NO parts of the 225gr Accubond were found and I really tried to find something because I know how precious these item's are to GG. what I did find was shattered bone, I am amazed at how well this bullet performed at this range.
UB

__________________
Attitude:
It takes 43 muscle's to frown and 17 to smile, but only 3 for proper trigger pull.

That is impressive for the 225gr accubond, i figured it would shed some material, damn impressive. I wonder if the small, for caliber, size of this bullet helped it to stay together at long range. Would a say 300gr accubond shed some weight due to the more mass of the bullet?? Doesnt matter either way i guess. Good showing of the accubond, very impressive.

Thanks for the reply. I was sure hoping you guys would find
the bullet and be able to post a picture or two.
I guess the Thunder needs to kill a few more animals and hopefully you can find a bullet. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Sorry JD338, I completely spaced over your question. That's what I get for trying to type late at night! I apologize.

As UB stated, we didn't find either bullet yet. I tried getting ahold of my friend today to see if he found it in the meat he got out after the day of the kill but he never answered his phone. He is probably dead tired and lying in an icewater bath!

There is still hope that a mushroom might be found on his side of the meat. The side he let UB and I have was very tender and lean but no bullet. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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I wonder if the small, for caliber, size of this bullet helped it to stay together at long range.

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The 225 is not small for caliber. The 180 and 200 grain accubonds are small for caliber. The 225 is medium weight and there have already been unsubstantiated claims by former members of our board that it was too small to work. Well, I think this hunt puts that debate to rest!

It is not always about bullet weight when it comes to killing. You could shoot a 400 grain VLD FMJ with a bc of 1.00 from this rifle and it would not kill near as effectively as the 225 AB because of it's contruction. Some bullets are meant to fly through paper and some are meant to fly through bone. Now, the 300 MK has been used with good results by some (including myself) but I still think the AB's work better for game.

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Would a say 300gr accubond shed some weight due to the more mass of the bullet??

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It would all depend on the construction. Yes this bullet has more material to lose but if the jacket was tough, it might not lose any. And Sierra jackets are tougher than most.

Sierra doesn't give expected weight retention percentages on MK's because they don't recommend them for game. NOsler says that the AB's are supposed to hold from 60 to 70 percent of their original weight. From my own testing, I would say that the 250 grain .338 Mk's are unreliable in their weight retention. Some had 100% retention and could almost be reloaded and then some blew like a bomb and only had about 50% retention. I simply chose not to gamble when it game to this aspect of hunting. A big bull elk is a tough critter with huge bones and muscle tissues and the hide on this particular elk was at least 1.5" thick. I wish I had taken more pics of the body of the elk with the hunter sitting on it. It was nearly the size of a good quarter horse from brisket to backbone. It takes a bullet that works all the time to bring down an animal like that, not just half the time.

Glad you told everyone where the mountain you were on is. I was afraid if I even posted about this location, people would look at my moniker and figure out where it is. This is nearly the view I have every day of my life but I live further to the north and only about 500 yards from the base of Ether peak. I can literally set up my spotting scope on my dining room table during the winter and watch the herds of cows and occasional bachelor groups.

I've climbed your mountain before, front and back. I'll take the back side any day (still steep); right up trail from Whiting CG. The front is deathly steep. I tried it one winter when I had a muzzleloader cow season tag. Didn't make it very far. Seemed to slide down 3 ft for every foot I went up in the snow. That was before the burn. Hope to live long enough to watch this mountain (locals call it Maple Mountain) regrow to it's full spendor.

I was just curious as to a point of positive returns with bullet weight versus bullet mass in wieght retention in a bonded bullet. I have no idea how you could ever find this golden bullet due to the differences in impact material and a thousand other variables. I was just thinking that maybe a smaller bullet would expand to a somewhat smaller diameter therefore giving it less area to be stressed while passing through a animal. Either way and whatever it is obvious that the 225 did a hell of a job!!!